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| Definitions of the Health Workforce Data |
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The data presented in the Global Atlas of the Health Workforce are of two types: aggregated and disaggregated. Both data sets provide information on the stock (absolute numbers) of health workers. The aggregated set also includes data on workforce density (per 1000 population). Data included in the aggregated set tend to be more complete.
The classification of health workers used for the Global Atlas is based on criteria for vocational education and training, regulation of health professions, and activities and tasks of jobs, i.e. a framework for categorizing key workforce variables according to shared characteristics. The WHO framework largely draws on the latest revisions to the internationally standardized classification systems of the International Labour Organization (International Standard Classification of Occupations), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (International Standard Classification of Education), and the United Nations Statistics Division (International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities).
Depending on the nature of each country's situation and the means of measurement, data are available for up to 9 categories of health workers in the aggregated set, and up to 18 categories in the disaggregated set. The latter essentially reflects attempts to better distinguish some subgroups of the workforce according to assumed differences in skill level and skill specialization.
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| Health Workforce: Aggregated Data |
| In the aggregated data set, the health workforce is classified according to the following 9 broad categories: |
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| Physicians |
| Includes generalists and specialists. |
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| Nursing and midwifery personnel |
Includes professional nurses, professional midwives, auxiliary nurses, auxiliary midwives, enrolled nurses, enrolled midwives and other personnel, such as dental nurses and primary care nurses. Traditional birth attendants are not counted here, but as community/traditional health workers (see below). |
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| Dentistry personnel |
| Includes dentists, dental assistants, dental technicians and related occupations. |
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| Pharmaceutical personnel |
| Includes pharmacists, pharmaceutical assistants, pharmaceutical technicians and related occupations. |
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| Laboratory health workers |
| Includes laboratory scientists, laboratory assistants, laboratory technicians, radiographers and related occupations. |
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| Environment and public health workers |
| Includes environmental and public health officers, environmental and public health technicians, sanitarians, hygienists, district health officers, public health inspectors, food inspectors, malaria inspectors and related occupations. |
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| Community and traditional health workers |
| Includes community health officers, community health-education workers, community health aides, family health workers, lady health visitors, health extension package workers, traditional and complementary medicine practitioners, community midwives, traditional birth attendants and related occupations. |
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| Other health workers |
| Includes a large range of other cadres of health service providers such as medical assistants, dieticians and nutritionists, occupational therapists, operators of medical and dentistry equipment, optometrists and opticians, physiotherapists, podiatrists, personal care workers, psychologists, respiratory therapists, speech pathologists, and medical trainees and interns. |
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| Health management and support workers |
Includes other categories of health systems personnel, such as managers of health and personal-care services, health economists, health statisticians, health policy lawyers, medical records and health information technicians, ambulance drivers, building maintenance staff, and other general management and support staff.
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| Health Workforce: Disaggregated Data |
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| In the disaggregated data set, the health workforce is classified according to the following 18 categories: |
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| Physicians |
| Includes generalists and specialists. |
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| Nursing personnel |
| Includes professional nurses, auxiliary nurses, enrolled nurses and other personnel, such as dental nurses and primary care nurses. In some countries, also includes nurse-midwives. |
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| Midwifery personnel |
| Includes professional midwives, auxiliary midwives and enrolled midwives. |
| (Note that for some countries, nurses with midwifery training are counted under nursing personnel.) |
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| Dentists |
| Includes dentists. |
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| Dental technicians/assistants |
| Includes dental assistants, dental technicians and related occupations. |
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| Pharmacists |
| Includes pharmacists. |
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| Pharmaceutical technicians/assistants |
| Includes pharmaceutical assistants, pharmaceutical technicians and related occupations. |
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| Laboratory scientists |
| Includes laboratory scientists. |
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| Laboratory technicians/assistants |
| Includes includes laboratory assistants, laboratory technicians and related occupations. |
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| Radiographers |
| Includes radiographers and related occupations. |
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| Environmental and public health workers |
| Includes environmental and public health officers, environmental and public health technicians, sanitarians, hygienists, district health officers, public health inspectors, food inspectors, malaria inspectors and related occupations. |
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| Community health workers |
| Includes community health officers, community health-education workers, community health aides, family health workers, lady health visitors, health extension package workers, community midwives and related occupations. |
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| Traditional medicine practitioners |
| Includes traditional and complementary medicine practitioners and associates. |
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| Traditional birth attendants |
| Includes traditional birth attendants. |
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| Medical assistants |
| Includes medical assistants, clinical officers and related occupations. |
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| Personal care workers |
| Includes institution-based personal care workers, home-based personal care workers, health care assistants and other categories of care attendants in health services. |
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| Other health workers |
| Includes dieticians and nutritionists, occupational therapists, operators of medical and dentistry equipment, optometrists and opticians, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, respiratory therapists, speech pathologists, medical trainees and interns. |
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| Health management and support workers |
| Includes includes other categories of health systems personnel, such as managers of health and personal-care services, health economists, health statisticians, health policy lawyers, medical records and health information technicians, ambulance drivers, building maintenance staff, and other general management and support staff. |
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Note that for some categories of health workers in the disaggregated set – physicians, environmental and public health workers, and health management and support workers – the data are equivalent to those also captured in the aggregated set.
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